378 



JOUB.SAL OF HOKTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEil. 



[ May 16, 1865. 



pegged down, and which when in bloom, besides scenting 

 the air with their delightful fragrance, are stated to be 

 very effective. In very severe weather these are protected 

 with mats. Ad'oining these beds is a bank of rockwork 

 planted with Alpines to the number of 400 or 500. A wind- 

 ing walk leads to the north front of the mansion, and on 

 the opposite side of the walk beyond a belt of the different 

 kinds of Hollies, and surrounded on the other sides by Ber- 

 berries, lies the pinetum, about an acre in extent. This 

 was planted only ten years ago, but already some of the 

 specimens have attained a considerable size. A Pieea Nord- 

 manniana, certainly one of the finest in the country, per- 

 fectly erect, and well furnished throughout, was ii-om 24 to 

 25 feet high, and Picea pinsapo, 15 feet high, and 10 feet 

 through. The largest Wellingtonia was 13. V feet high; one 

 only 6 feet high had three cones on it, but as stated at 

 p. 359, this tree produces cones at a very early age. Cedars 

 of Lebanon had also attained a good size, one was estimated 

 to be nearly 40 feet high, and there were several from 25 to 

 30 feet. Of other species there wore good thriving speci- 

 mens of Thujopsis bovealis, Cryptomeria japonica, Picea 

 nobilis, Abies Douglasii, A. orientalis, Juniperus chinensis, 

 thurifera, Tasodium sinense or Glyptostrobus pendulus, a 

 very elegant tree 6 feet high : the Dovaston Yew, deserving 

 more general cultivation, on account of its prostrate habit; 

 and several pretty pygmies, such as A. excelsa Clanbrasi- 

 liana, and excelsa elegans, ranging from a foot to 11 foot 

 high. One great feature of this pinetum, and indeed of the 

 garden generally, is that every tree is legibly named, adding 

 much to the pleasure and instruction which such a garden 

 is capable of affording. AVe mention this more particularly 

 because in some public gaj-dens plants are not unfrequently 

 unnamed, and consequently lose much of their interest to 

 the many. 



The kitchen and fruit garden covers a space of five acres, 

 of which two acres are enclosed by walls 15 feet high, built 

 hollow on the same plan as those at Chiswick, which, unlike 

 other forms of hollow walls, have exactly the same appear- 

 ance as a solid one. The wall on the south side is 300 feet 

 long, giving of course 300 feet of south aspect and a corre- 

 sponding extent of north aspect, and at right angles to this 

 wall run two others, and one dividing the enclosed space up 

 the centre. Each of these is 24-0 feet in length, and the whole, 

 consequently, give 720 feet of west aspect and a like extent 

 of east aspect. The borders are 15 feet wide, and variously 

 cropped to within 4 feet of the wall. The south aspect is 

 covered with Peaches and If ectarines now rapidly covering 

 the wall, and when this is effected all riders will be removed. 

 The trees were chiefly Grosse Mignonne and Harrington 

 Peaches, and Violette Hative Nectarines, and were all in ex- 

 cellent bearing condition. But it was on entering the walled- 

 in garden that we were more especially struck with the ap- 

 pearance of the trees. The walls were literally covered -mih 

 blossom, and the trees in a healthy bearing state from top 

 to bottom. The north aspect is ohiefly occupied with fan- 

 trained Plums and Cherries, the former consisting of Coe's 

 Golden Drop, Magnum Bonums. Angelina Burdett, Kirke's, 

 Orleans, and Victoria; the latter of Elton, Black Tartarian, 

 and Morello, one tree of which alone extends over a width of 

 25 feet. The east and west aspect walls are covered with 

 excellent horizontal-trained Pear trees of the best varieties, 

 ae Duchesae d'Angoulfcme, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Glou 

 Morceau, Thompson's, Althorp Crasanne, Josephine de Ma- 

 lines, Easter Beurrc, &c., Plums, and Cherries. Along that 

 side of the walks farthest from the wall, at G feet from the 

 edge, «T0 planted about 200 pyramid Pears, from 12 to 

 IS feet apart. These were all root-pruned two yeai-s ago, 

 and were, like those on the walls, white with blossom. The 

 interior was variously cropped with Peas, Carrots, Cauli- 

 flowers, Asparagus, and other vegetables, and the supply 

 is supplemented by the produce of the outside slips, in 

 which there are standard Apples, Floms, and other fruit 

 trees. 



We now come to the Bontb-aspect wall on the north side 

 of this garden. Here there are four vineries each 30 feet 

 by 15 feet, and a Peach-house 40 feet long by the same 

 width. In the first house heated by five rows of four-inch 

 pipe were fine crops of Black Uamburgh, Trentham Block, 

 Miucat Hamburgh, and Frontignans. and in a auccession- 

 honiits Block Hamburghs, Lady Downe's, and Muscats in 



pots, the two former having set a good crop, and the last 

 being just started. We also noticed good crops of Straw- 

 berries on the shelves of these houses. The fourth vineiy 

 was a Muscat-house, in which fresh Vines had been planted 

 to replace the old. The most pleasing sight, however, was 

 the Peach-house, the roof being covered with two fine trees 

 bearing a profusion of fruit which had stoned, the foliage 

 very healthy and fiee hom all appearance of insects, and 

 not a fallen fruit to be seen. 



A span-roofed Peach-house formerly an orchard-house, 

 but now heated, 30 feet long, IS feet wide, and 10 feet high 

 to the ridge, was also planted with Black Hamburghs and 

 Buckland Sweet-^vater Vines, trained along the ridge, whilst 

 on shelves were numerous pots of Sir C. Napier and Pre- 

 sident Strawberries, bearing very freely. A second span- 

 roof was devoted to Figs well set with fruit, the kinds 

 being chiefly Brown Turkey, Wliite Ischia, and Early 

 Violet, whicli produces a small sweet fruit, is a very free 

 beai-er, and excellent for forcing. Other houses contained 

 j pot Vines started to come in at Christmas, Bowoou Muscats 

 ! just colouring, Oranges in pots grown chiefly for their flowers, 

 good crops of StrawbeiTies, Kidney Beans, and Cucumbers. 

 Of the last Mr. Hill has a very prolific variety of his own, 

 raised by him several yeai-s ago between the Manchester 

 Prize Cucumber and Black Spine. The fruit averages 

 18 inches long, and is produced in twos, and sometimes 

 three or four at a joint. 



There still remain two span-roofed plant-houses to notice : 

 the one, an Azalea-house, contained very good specimen 

 \ plants, such as are to be seen at the London shows, new 

 I Aucubas and other Japanese plants. Calceolarias, and mis- 

 cellaneous flowering plnnts ; the other, a rosery, contained 

 I Tea Eoses, both in pots and planted out, and trained up 

 , the pUlaxs. Here Gloire de Dijon, Madame de St. Joseph, 

 ' and several others were in fine bloom. 



; Various pits contained a good stock of bedding plants, 

 herbaceous Calceolarias, Cinerarias, Mignonette, Japan 

 Lilies, including Lilium auratum, and other plants for in- 

 door decoration; and there was besides about 60 yards 

 run of li-ames for forcing vegetables in winter and Melons, 

 ' &c., in summer. At the back of the north waU of the kitchen 

 garden were the men's rooms, not the small, low, dark, and 

 badly-ventilated rooms too commonly met with, but 14 feet 

 square, and 9 feet high, heated by hot water, and with 

 ample provision for air and light. The number of hands 

 employed is twenty-one, but only six are lodged in the 

 gi-ounds. In the same range is the stable. Mushroom- 

 house, in good bearing, fruit-room, tool shed, and Mr. Hill's 

 office. TVhere there is such a liberal employer as Mr. Han- 

 bury, and such a zealous and well-skilled servant as Mr. 

 HiB, great things may be expected, still we were not pre- 

 pared to meet with snch high-keeping and thorough effi- 

 ciency in every department, everything that was done was 

 well done, and it is no exaggeration to state that there was 

 not a weed to be seen. 



LACHEIS^^ALIA. OE CAPE COWSLIP: 



ITS CULTUBE, AKD A SELECIIOK OF THE PINEIi SPDCIES. 



We cannot but regret that those singularly beautiful and 

 interesting spring-flowering bulbs the Lachenalias, such great 

 favoui'ites with our forefathers, are now so much neglected, 

 and that they have been driven out of cultivation by many 

 of the less-deserving novelties of the present day. 



The Lachenalias are all spring-flowering bulbs, natives of 

 the Cape of Good Hope and adjoining parts of South Africa; 

 they belong to the same natural order (Asphodelea;) as the 

 Hyacinth, Star of Bethlehem, Garlic, and the Musk or Grape 

 Hyacinth, and to the latter they are closely allied. This 

 curious and interesting genus contains numerous handsome 

 species and varieties, a great many of which have now dis- 

 appeared from OUT collections, chiefly, no doubt, from the 

 plants having been neglected after blooming, or placed out 

 of doors and exposed to the heavy rains, where, owing to 

 theii- being grown in pots, they frequently become sodden — a 

 circumstance which is sure to cause the bulbs to rot, these 

 being verj' succulent, scaly, and covered with a dry scaly 

 bark very different from that of most other bulbs. 



The different species of Lachenolia or Cape Cowslip are 



